📍India’s appalling rank on environmental health

Environmental scientists and researchers at Yale University and Columbia University bring out a major biennial report on the environmental health and environmental performance of countries. The 2026 report shows that India has been performing extraordinarily poorly on this matrix, ranking last (180th out of 180 countries studied) in 2022. It showed a sliver of improvement in 2024, ending up, still at the bottom at 176th out of 180. In 2026, it continued to remain at the bottom most step, 176th out of 177.

By any standard, that is an abysmal record. The report highlights an acute “development-versus-pollution” tension. India has tried to provide energy access to millions of people, relying heavily on coal with its attendant problems of deadly emissions leading to severe air pollution and shooting greenhouse gases. Other factors that were mentioned were poor biodiversity protection (small wonder given the scale at which we are destroying forests), and a sharp decline in looking after marine protected areas, as the primary reasons for the low ranking.  

It is embarrassing that instead of being self critical and trying to understand why our performance is so poor and how to fix it, the Indian Ministry of Environment has argued that the Yale-Columbia report is derived using “unscientific methods”. Really? Yale and Columbia with their record of top quality work on environmental issues out of world class labs, don’t know what they are talking about? And the pitiful occupants of our Environment Ministry have the academic excellence to challenge the work of some of the best universities in the world? A little humility and some introspection would be in order here.

The report: https://epi.yale.edu/region/2026/southern-asia 

 

📍Genetic Diversity is Important in Forests!

Anyone who has taken the train to Nainital or anywhere in the Kumaon Uttarakhand, will have alighted at the last train station of the route- Kathgodam. Look at that name carefully-Kath means wood in Hindi and Godam means godown. Kathgodam was named for the place where all the trees that were felled in the Kumaon region were stored for further transportation to wherever they were needed. Kathgodam in a manner of speaking, was the graveyard of the forests of the Kumaon region.

During the time of British rule, forests were seen only as a resource to be exploited, not anything of intrinsic value, as pools of diverse plants, animals, birds, insects, a whole range of biodiversity. They did not see forests as agents that modulate the local climate and least of all, that they were the homes of several indigenous communities. So the Brits engaged in large scale felling of natural forests for their commercial and industrial use, especially in the Himalayas and the Western Ghats, reducing rich forests to raw material. They planted monocultures largely of timber trees like Teak and Sal, as well as Pine for resin and fast growing Eucalyptus and Acacia for firewood. Colonial rule destroyed our biodiversity rich forests, altered native ecosystems and displaced indigenous

communities who relied on them for food, fodder, fuel and timber. 

Unfortunately, our own Forest Department took over the colonial legacy and continued to treat the forest largely as raw material, planting trees primarily for commercial use, so we have grown used to seeing uniform plantations as forests. All this is changing slowly but we need to emphasize over and over again that the forests are valuable for many reasons- modulating the climate, storing water, maintaining biodiversity as also their value to the lives of forest dwelling communities.

For forests to be forests, the varied genetic diversity they contain, must be protected and enabled to flourish. The genetic diversity in forests is key to their integrity, resilience and long-term ecosystem health. It is what provides the basis for tree populations to adapt to changing climates, resist invasive pests and survive environmental stressors like dry spells and excessive humidity.

Genetically uniform tree populations like in man-made plantations are highly vulnerable to pests and diseases. In contrast, genetically diverse populations contain many individuals with natural resistance, thus ensuring that the entire stand is not killed by a single pathogen as happened with genetically uniform potato farms in Ireland. The entire potato crop, the staple food of the Irish, got wiped out due to infestation by a fungus called Phytophthera infestans, This resulted in a famine in which about one million people died of starvation. Genetic diversity helps forests to adapt to climate turbulence because forests very often have to face rapid environmental shifts, like rising temperatures and prolonged droughts. A mixture of genetic profiles increases the likelihood that certain trees/plants will tolerate heatwaves and others will be able to cope with low water availability. This enables an overall survival of the forest even if it suffers some damage. 

From the aspect of commercial use, forestry programs are better off with greater genetic variability so that they can select trees to breed for desirable timber traits—such as faster growth rates, higher wood density, and straight trunks—without diminishing the overall stress resilience of the forest. Healthy genetic diversity with a variety of species is also essential to maintain the integrity of the forest and restore it if damage is inflicted. Reforestation programs have a higher chance of success if they have access to seeds from a diverse range of thriving, well adapted trees because these have high survival rates.

 

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN CONSERVING GENETIC DIVERSITY

Women have traditionally played an important role in managing the genetic diversity in their regions, harvesting carefully, and allowing regeneration so that the resource base is sustained over generations. In many Asian societies, field operations like ploughing and marketing are done by men, and the selection and storage of seed, planting and weeding in fields, by women. Women generally use their knowledge of natural and biological resources to satisfy multiple household needs. They breed well-adapted varieties and develop sophisticated farming systems using a range of crop varieties, to ensure food and nutrition for the family. Their access to and use of genetic resources is unhindered and they succeed in making effective use of them for food, fodder, medicine and other essential products.

The transformation of agriculture to meet the needs of a globalizing market economy is contributing to the steady erosion of the biological resources and knowledge systems controlled by women. The trend towards monocultures and cash crops in a high input, intensive agriculture system, to produce crops on contract or for urban and export markets, is impacting negatively on women’s role in domestic and local arenas. 

Communities often have well-defined gender roles in plant and seed selection and storage. Traditionally women in Asia often use a variety of indigenous plants, trees and animals, and they have a direct stake in conservation. The Neem tree, for example, is used as a bactericidal agent in agriculture, in the household for storing food and to prevent infections. Women tend to take a lead role in preserving and conserving croplands, forests and other natural resources for perpetual use. Men are more likely to be involved in converting these resources into cash. Women are also often the traditional caretakers of genetic and species diversity in agriculture. Their knowledge of growing conditions and nutritional characteristics of various species trains them in seed selection and plant breeding. In many societies, it is women who are mainly responsible for this, as well as for seed exchange and preservation of local bio diversity, often gathering fruits and medicinal plants from forests for immediate use or for sale at local markets.

The ‘Convention of Biological Diversity’ (CBD), which affirms the sovereign rights of nations over their bio resources, calls for conservation of bio diversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources. The CBD makes reference in the Preamble to the central role of women in conserving bio diversity and knowledge of plant properties: “Recognizing also the vital role that women play in the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and affirming the need for the full participation of women at all levels of policy-making and implementation for biological diversity conservation”. ‘Agenda 21’, adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, also stresses the need to strengthen women’s involvement in national ecosystem management and control of environmental degradation. 

Other international plans of action have highlighted the critical role of gender in genetic resources conservation and sustainable utilisation. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) publication, ‘Gender – Key to Sustainability and Food Security’, states: “Rural women in developing countries hold the key to many of the planet’s agriculture systems for food production, seed selection, and protection of agro-bio diversity. Women using diverse wild and indigenous species often use home gardens as experimental plots.”

I came across a startling report about birds on the war front in Ukraine using thin fibre optic cables to build their nests.

These cables are used to control attack drones and the birds have found a use for it. It's tragic that a war torn region has so destroyed and disrupted nature that birds are not able to live in peace, build their nests with natural materials like leaves, barks and grasses. They have to make do with what is available.

On the other hand, the adaptability of these birds to their changed environment is inspiring, as is their creativity.

Nature is resilient as these birds show us. But there is a limit to this resilence. If you disrupt and destroy nature beyond a point, the resilience is broken.

Our climate crisis is a living example of this.

📍THE BITTER IRONY OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change alters rainfall patterns and temperature regimes. This in turn influences local water balance and disturbs the optimal cultivation period for particular crops, known as the Length of Growing Period or LGP. According to climate forecasts, land with good LGP will decrease by over 51 million hectare worldwide.

Adequate LGP is required to ensure that medium to long duration crops can successfully grow to maturity. Some crop varieties mature quickly and are ready for use in a shorter period (short duration varieties). Others, especially most cereals, require a longer duration to mature. When the LGP in an agro climatic zone is long, a variety of crops from short duration to long duration can be cultivated there throughout the growing season. This means higher food production. When on the other hand, the LGP contracts, the growing season is shortened, fewer crops can be cultivated thus reducing food production.

Most climate models predict large increases in the LGP of today’s temperate and arctic regions. This means that temperate regions that are currently one crop zones (growing just one crop per year) will become two crop zones (growing two crops per year), resulting in a doubling of food production there.

On the other hand, almost half the production potential of tropical countries like India could be lost. The biggest blow to food production is expected to come from the loss of multiple cropping zones. The worst hit areas are predicted to be those where favorable weather allows farmers to take two to three crops in a year. These areas are predicted to turn into single crop zones, where only one crop can be taken in a year because the LGP will have shrunk or shifted In a perverse irony, the develop/ temperate countries will experience an increase in agriculture production as temperate regions get warmer. 

The regions which because of their industrialization and huge emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) are responsible for wrecking the climate will actually end up being its beneficiaries. On the other hand, today’s developing world in the tropics, which has not contributed to creating this climate hazard, will be its worst victim, and will suffer a loss in agriculture productivity, with serious consequences for food availability and hunger.

📍Who is saving and who is destroying the forest ?

A recent report has just told us that India can save its forests by winning the war on poverty. Indicating thereby that the poor exploit the forest recklessly to fulfil their needs. But is this really true? How come there are dense jungles where the Adivasi communities, hardly ranked as the “richest” on the economic scale, have been living for generations? And how is it that forests or even orchards near cities are hacked and cleared for projects like luxury housing or amusement parks?
 
Forest dwellers usually secure their livelihoods in sustainable ways and they treat their forests as their strongest allies, not their enemies. The concept of Sacred Groves in the North East shows us how these communities venerate their forests and trees. The Sarna of the Chotanagpur adivasis are groves of old Sal trees which are sacred to them, where they believe their village deities and spirits reside. Sacred Groves and Sarnas are inviolate. The forests are protected.
 
On the other hand, the township of Gurgaon (now Gurugram), part of the National Capital Region has been built on orchards, fields and pastures. No, it is not the poor who ravage the forests, it is the rich with their bottomless greed.
 
We are seeing how the lush, biodiversity rich Hasdeo forest is being butchered, heartless brutes treading over the weeping women holding on to the feet of the monsters who are vandalising their trees, their deities and gods, the spirits of their ancestors. The communities of Hasdeo are not destroying their forest, Adani and his henchmen are doing that.
 
So please stop the hypocrisy about winning the war on poverty to save forests. Stop spinning yarns about income generation activities that will be mired in corruption and never materialise. Instead, restrain the unbridled avarice of the super-rich honchos…and the forests will be saved.

The News - https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/not-binary-india-can-save-its-forests-by-winning-the-war-on-poverty/article71100846.ece

 📍How Climate Change is Starving the Himalayan Herders

The pastoral communities of India (the herders who rear sheep, goats, cattle, camels as also yaks in our northern and hilly states) live a transhumance life, moving across regions with their animals, in search of pastures. Such a system allows grazed pastures to recover and regenerate while new pastures ensure their animals had sufficient food throughout the year.

The livelihood of the mountain pastoralists is based on a delicate seasonal migration: taking their herds high up into the mountain pastures (bugyals) in the summer, and bringing them down to the valleys in the winter.

But global warming is disrupting this ancient rhythm. As the Himalayan glaciers melt at an increasingly rapid pace and weather patterns become highly erratic, the vegetation cycles of these high-altitude pastures are changing. The grass is often not there when the herders arrive.

Their traditional knowledge tells them when to move their flocks, but climate change has erased the reliability of that knowledge. Without adequate grazing lands, the animals starve, and the traditional pastoralist economy collapses. 

Clearly, there is an urgent need to draft adaptation strategies for these high-altitude communities.